VR is almost here but are you ready?

Over 4 years ago Oculus announced their first development version of VR and unless you’ve been living under a rock Virtual Reality has steadily become one of the most talked about tech innovations of the last half-decade. And now we finally have a release date set for the first consumer unit from Oculus: July 2016. Since Oculus first announced their VR technology many companies have started investing in the technology and developing their own technologies, including: Sony, HTC, Samsung and Google.

VR Requirements

But the question as of late has been, do you have a system that is ready for VR? The answer to this question in most cases is a resounding NO, and if you don’t believe me take a look at the Oculus Rift’s recommended specifications:

GPU NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater

Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater

8GB+ RAM

That’s a current-gen high end GPU and this is only the recommended requirements. If you are wondering whether your system can handle VR Gaming Valve have released a good benchmarking application to test your system which you can download for free here!

Cost

The next big consideration with VR, after you’ve spent well over $1300 on your gaming system, is the cost of the actual VR headsets.

HTC Vive

Specifications

Resolution: 1080 x 1200 pixels OLED

Combined Resolution: 2160 x 1200 pixels

Aspect Ratio: 9:5

Refresh Rate: 90Hz

Sensors: Gyrosensor, Accelerometer and a Laser Position Sensor

Starting with the most expensive option, the HTC Vive will retail for £689.00 which is bundled with two wireless controllers, two base stations, link box, earbuds and Vive accessories. The high cost makes some degree of sense when one considers that the Vive comes with two controllers. However, at almost £700 there is a lot you could buy instead of the Vive.

The Oculus price is set lower than the Vive at £420.84. However, the Oculus does not come with motion controllers such as the Vive and ships with the following: headset, sensor, remote, cables, Xbox One controller, EVE: Valkyrie, and Lucky’s Tale